International Trade, Global Firms and Migration

This area of research deals with two facets of international economic integration:

International trade and its link to firms organization and productivity

This direction of research focuses on the firm-level determinants of competitiveness and internationalization. A first set of projects looks at how the micro features of exporting firms translate into macro outcomes, like aggregate productivity and trade balances. A second set of activities focuses on trade policy and specifically on the role of non-tariff trade barriers in affecting firm-level outcomes, especially firm selection and the composition of employment. A third set of projects looks at the impact of firms organization on firms performance, and particularly how internal capital and labour markets operating within business groups affect firmsresilience to positive and negative shocks.

International migration

This direction of research focuses on the determinants and effects of migration flows. A first set of projects looks at refugees policies and irregular migration. In particular, to what extent border policies influence the composition, size and direction of migrants and refugeesflows and whether they impact the migration-related risk of death. A related question asks how different asylum and refugee policies impact on refugees socio-economic degree of integration in the host countries. A second set of projects looks at the determinants and effects of immigrants political participation. A third set of projects looks at the economic impact of migration in destination and host countries. Group members have published in international journals such as Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Journal of the European Economic Association, Economic Journal, Economic Policy, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Regional Studies, World Bank Economic Review.

Research Topics

International trade, trade policy; economics of multinational firms; empirical analysis of firms dynamics and growth; economics of business groups; economics of migration; migration policies and patterns; international political economy; political economy of trade and agricultural policies.